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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267124">Dear Brother (Ease My Troubles)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedToxic/pseuds/TwistedToxic'>TwistedToxic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brotherly Affection, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Cuddles, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne-centric, Gen, Good Brother Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Nightmares, No editing I die like Damian Wayne, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, So naturally I hurt them, Talia is Bad Parent in this I'm sorry, don't worry he gets several, i love my sons, in this one at least, slight emetophobia warning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:29:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedToxic/pseuds/TwistedToxic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian awoke with a soft gasp, tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He let out a choked, broken sob while his hand trailed to his pajama shirt. He put his hand over his heart, feeling his racing heart begin to slow. He was alive. Alive again, but... Was he? Death took more than your body. Coming back, Lazarus Pit or not - his heart ached to think of the way Todd and Cain described their individual pit madnesses, you never came back the same. Damian couldn't keep the shuddering gasps as he held his chest and trembled, tears rolling down his cheeks, the trails shining in the moonlight over his room. It felt like he was dying all over again. He stood up, trying to steady himself through his anxiety while he made his way to the door. He wiped his tears away.</p><p>Damian keeps having nightmares about his death, and he's all sad until he gets comfort, thank you.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Todd &amp; Damian Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>305</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dear Brother (Ease My Troubles)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey, I felt pretty good today after I passed out when I put my other fic up, so I decided to write yet another! This time, this has to do with Damian's death and him going to Jason for comfort. I take great pleasure in hurting my sons and then making them feel better, can't you tell?</p><p>I also wrote this after I got sleep, so it's a bit more coherent as opposed to eight straight hours of writing.</p><p>Despite the tags, I still warn you this will have slightly graphic death scenes and a slight emetophobia warning since Damian throws up. Also, insecure Damian is my shit so I kind of delved into that so a bit of things get fuzzy since his insecurities are kind of twisting things around.</p><p>Blocks of italics indicate memories, just a heads up.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Pain. It was all he felt. The Heretic's sword plunged through his chest as it spread through him, the pain like a wildfire. It hurt, it hurt so bad. Please make it stop hurting. Please make it stop. Damian let out a choked sound halfway between a gasp and a sob before blood began to spill from his parted lips. All he could feel was the heat radiating through him, and then there was nothingness. Damian Wayne was dead. Another dead Robin. Another failure... The thought of failure hurt more than his death ever did. Did he become a warning too while he was gone?</em>
</p><p>Damian awoke with a soft gasp, tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He let out a choked, broken sob while his hand trailed to his pajama shirt. He put his hand over his heart, feeling his racing heart begin to slow. He was alive. Alive again, but... <em>Was he</em>? Death took more than your body. Coming back, Lazarus Pit or not - his heart ached to think of the way Todd and Cain described their individual pit madnesses, you never came back the same. Damian couldn't keep the shuddering gasps as he held his chest and trembled, tears rolling down his cheeks, the trails shining in the moonlight over his room. It felt like he was dying all over again. He stood up, trying to steady himself through his anxiety while he made his way to the door. He wiped his tears away. Knowing his luck, Drake would be downstairs chugging on only god knows what new concoction of coffee mixed with something equally disgusting. The last time was coffee, brewed with a Monster instead of water, then topped with two 5 hour energies. Damian would worry about him, but he didn't care for Drake. <em>Definitely</em> not. So what if he smiled a little when Drake hugged him after a particularly taxing mission? It didn't mean anything at all.</p><p>He was surprisingly alone when he made it to the kitchen, but he couldn't help but remember what Todd told him last week after he had the same nightmare.</p><p>
  <em>"Kid, I know you have this whole thing going on where you have too much pride reaching out. Damian tried to reply, but Jason continued with an oddly calming chuckle. "Don't deny it. It takes one to know one, but nobody else here understands as well as Cass and I do. Dying was fucking scary, Damian. If you need anybody to talk to about this shit, you can always come to me or call Cass. We're not gonna laugh. We know what it's like - dying and then coming back." Damian rolled his eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"-tt- You are only afraid because you are weak." Todd, damn him, saw right through it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sometimes, strength isn't measured by arbitrary constructs like being brave or scared, kiddo." He ruffled Damian's hair, and before he could stop him, Todd was already halfway up the stairs.</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>It took another week of the same nightmare before Damian woke up screaming, hand on his chest and tears streaming down his cheeks, darkening the blanket with wetness where they landed. Within a minute, everyone was at the door, Todd last, but still staring into his room.</p><p>"Lil' D?" Dick asked, hand on the doorframe, in nothing but his sweats. "What happened?" Damian was shaking his head, snot and tears running down his face. Dick looked at Jason with a silent question, to which Jason shook his head. It would be a bad idea to try and touch him until he was fully back with them.</p><p>"Son?" Bruce asked. He knew Damian would never ask for help. The Wayne stubbornness ran in the family, adopted or by blood. "Do you need anything?" Damian looked at them, wiping his face on his sleeve as he shook his head. Tim looked at Damian. He looked worse than he did, and Tim hasn't slept in <em>three days</em>.</p><p>"No, Father. I am fine. I just..." Everybody knew what happened. "I would like some water, then I will be fine." Bruce nodded, before Dick stepped into the room.</p><p>"Dami… You didn't do anything wrong. We all have nightmares." Dick said. "Nobody will think less of you if you have worse days than others." Damian just shook his head.</p><p>"I will be fine, Richard." He insisted. "I just require liquid sustenance." Jason couldn't help his snort. This fucking kid. Dick briefly shot a look at Jason before he eased Damian into his arms. Richard was hugging him again. "I do not require physical affection." It made him feel better, as evidenced by the fact he wasn't pushing Dick away, but he'd deny it if asked.</p><p>"I know, Lil' D. You looked cold." Dick said - to allow Damian to save face, mentally chuckling as Damian leaned into the touch until Father returned. Damian took the glass after he pulled away.</p><p>"I will be fine now." Damian said as he took a sip of water. "I- Thank you, Father. For the water, of course. Tell the others and Pennyworth to return to bed." He requested. Bruce nodded and urged everyone back to bed. Alfred looked at him.</p><p>"Master Bruce. Master Damian is in distress." Bruce nodded.</p><p>"I know, Alfred." He said. "I'm going to stay with him for a bit." He turned back to Damian's room, and Damian looked at his father.</p><p>"I am fine, Father."</p><p>"I see that, Damian, but I don't want Alfred to have to get up in the middle of the night for your glass." He knew that Damian would insist he was fine if he told him he wanted to make sure he was okay. Damian nodded without a word. They sat in silence, only broken by the occasional hard swallow from Damian. He straightened up when he felt a weight upon his shoulders. Father had put his arm around him. Damian drank his water a little faster. He handed the glass to Bruce.</p><p>"There, Father." He said, and Bruce took it and stood to make his leave like he promised.</p><p>"I love you, Damian. If you need anything at all, my door is always unlocked." Bruce said. "Goodnight, son." Damian felt a little warm at those three words. He may have only said it to make Damian feel better, but it worked. Damian rolled his eyes.</p><p>"<em>-tt-</em> I will be fine, Father. Rest." He said.</p>
<hr/><p>Damian was not fine. He couldn't breathe. The pain in his chest was like the wound was ripped open from the inside. He gasped for each breath as he stumbled to the trashcan at the door. He heaved, clutching his chest as he fell to his knees in front of the can.</p><p>
  <em>He was dead. Killed by the killer his mother wanted him to be.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"أمي …" Damian choked. " أرجوكِ..." Tears spilled down his cheeks as blood dribbled from his mouth. "رجاء!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Damian died a disappointment to his mother. Was he a disappointment to Father as well? No matter what Bruce did now that Damian was back, he couldn't stop thinking he was talked about like Todd was. The problem Robin. What not to do.</em>
</p><p>Damian sobbed as he heaved, covering his mouth with his sleeve and biting it to hold back a scream and the threat of rising bile. Everything kept hurting. The sword, the weight of the feeling of failure. Todd told him he could come to him anytime, but did he mean it? He let out a shuddering breath. Would Todd sell him out to the others if he spilled out his insecurities? The thoughts came crumbling down, and Damian shuddered, gagging a few times before bile spilled from his lips into the trashcan. He eventually threw up his partially digested dinner, trembling as he tried to keep himself steady on his arms.</p><p>It was a good hour before he stood up, shaking as he almost fell down to the floor with the numbness in his knees. He made his way to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He felt disgusting. Why couldn't he deal with this better? Why couldn't he <em>be</em> better? He looked at his room and touched the door handle. It felt like walking back into the place where he relived one of the worst days of his life - even if only while he slept.</p><p>He ended up in Todd's room. Given the man was a chaotic bastard, he would have thought Todd's room to be a disgusting mess, but it was immaculate. Books neatly aligned on the bookshelf by author in alphabetical order, excluding the book Damian presumed he was currently reading, which lay closed on his desk next to his hearing aids, a little Batman bookmark where he left off. His clothes were either neatly folded or hung up in the closet. A bi pride flag hung over the desk, and the floor was spotless. Huh, this was nothing like Damian expected - except the pride flag. He was there when he got it. Jason rolled over with a soft grunt, one arm under the pillow, the other under his weight. He was fully clothed in what looked like fuzzy pajamas.</p><p>Damian couldn't keep himself from snorting. The big bad Red Hood, in <em>fuzzy pajamas</em>. Jason peeked an eye open with a soft mumble. He either recognized Damian and went back to sleep or he didn't even see him, and went back to sleep. Damian could have retorted something along the lines of 'no wonder Todd got killed' but even he knew better than to say something like that. He died trying to save a mother who didn't even want him. He took a shaking breath, and hoped for the best as he slid into the bed next to Jason. The reaction was nearly instant. The arm Todd laid on curled up around him as his other arm came out and wrapped around him as well.</p><p>This was... Oddly endearing. Damian wrapped his arms around Todd the best he could, burying himself into his chest. He couldn't prevent the few gasping breaths as tears spilled onto the soft fabric. He was fuzzy and warm. Todd, the 6'2 beast of a man, felt safe, of all things. Maybe that's why people hailed him as the hero of Crime Alley. Damian cried harder.</p><p>"Shh..." Jason soothed, one of his hands reaching up to pet Damian's hair. "I gotcha kiddo."</p><p>Damian slept peacefully that night for the first time in months.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Translations for what Damian's saying in his dream (please feel free to correct me if I am wrong!)</p><p>أمي  - Mother<br/>أرجوكِ - Mother please<br/>رجاء! - Please!</p><p>Many thanks to https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_writer21/pseuds/random_writer21 (I still haven't figured out out how to tag since I have approximately .2 braincells, I'm sorry) for the corrections!</p><p>This will be only one chapter, but if you guys like it enough, I'll write another where Damian returns the favor! I hope you liked this! If you would like tags added, please let me know!</p><p>Also, I promise not all of my works will have the parenthesis in the title, haha.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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